Was I watching: bees or wasps?

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Was I watching BEES or WASPS??

There are tens of thousands of bees and wasps. Bees are fairly uniform (at least those you will see) while wasps come in many shapes and flavors. One clear way to tell them apart is by what they use as food for their young (larvae). Bees feed their young with plant products (mostly nectar and pollen) while wasps use "meat" (the paralyzed bodies of insects or chewed-up insects). That won't help you much unless the insect you are watching is catching or eating something. Remember that wasps feed themselves nectar and pollen, so an insect on a flower gathering nectar could be either a bee or a wasp. The following is a rather rough way to identify those you will most likely see. Also check the following pages: bees, wasps, and sand wasps. Here is a nice web site to browse for pictures and facts about wasps and bees (of Missouri, but we have a lot of them here).

BEES are FUZZY like this bumblebee. There are less fuzzy bees that collect pollen and even parts of leaves to use for food for their offspring. In general if it looks like a wasp or bee and is fuzzy it is a bee. If it has pollen (yellow, white or orange colors) on its hind legs it is a bee.

WASPS (hornets, yellow-jackets, paper wasps) usually refer to those in the family Vespidae. Here is a common yellow jacket. Note the smooth surface, the "waspish" waist, and the odd wings. These are normal wings folded over while the wasp is not flying (very characteristic of vespid wasps). If the wasp is with others on a papery nest, it is a Vespid wasp.

You have already encountered SAND WASPS(Sphecidae) in the course. These come in forms that look "waspy" like the Amophilla, or more "bee like" such as Bembix. Keep your eye out for a iridescent bluish black wasp (waspy waist) that will continually flip its wings as it walks around. This will either be a spider wasp (looking for spiders to provision its nest with) or a kind of sand wasp that hunts for grasshoppers or katydids. If you see a wasp dragging or carrying a prey or digging a hole, it is probably a sand wasp. Vespid wasps eat their prey and regurgitate it for their offspring.

Finally, there are a huge number of PARASITIC WASPS. These lay eggs on or in insects and plants. Many you may never see -- they are a couple of millimeters long. On the left is a little chalcid wasp sitting on an egg (could be a Drosophila egg).

Others are not commonly encountered on campus or this time of year. However, their importance in our world is immense! For example, most biological control is done using these wasp which parasitize various insects. One family, the Ichnumonidae, is especially important.

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